macbook is not recognizing my user or password

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Level 1

12 points

macbook is not recognizing my user or password

Hello everyone,

my Mac Tahoe macbook air m1 was not responding so i restarted it, yet when it restarted the default mac wallpaper and it does not recognize my password or user any more!!, also one strange thing is that it asks ME to insert a «name» at the lock screen, not sure what that is!, I tried ALL hacks, inclusing «resetpassword» from terminal, tried the sticky keyboad on screen in case its a keyboard problem, tried running firstaid for Data, macintosh HD and MacOs, safemod, and also tried reinstalling MacOS, NOTHING is working!!!! I am super furstrated as I cannot lose my files and documents on it!, it happened to me 2 times this month, and this is the 3rd, yet the first 2 times it resolved on its own within 24 hours, now its been more than 48 hours, and it definetely is not working,

PS: after it happened to me 2 times, I completely removed password, yet it still asked for one after it returned to default wallpaper, from my apple ID account my very 1st passwrod is allwoing me to enter the forgot.apple.com, yet on my macbook that password is not working!

please let me know if there is any possible way to resolve this ASAP, as apple store is away from me and I don’t have the time. TYVM any advice is MUCH appreciated.

Posted on Feb 10, 2026 4:39 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 10, 2026 5:24 AM in response to line278

It seems that your login options have changed from "list of users" to "username and password".

You need to type your username exactly, and then type the password, in the respective boxes...

Note: usually the username (or "short" name) is in lowercase (and it cannot contain spaces).

For example, johnsmith

You may also use the long name (for example, John Smith) but in any case you have to type exactly as it is set, or it won't be recognized.

Once you can login, you can change your settings to show you list of users, in System Settings->Lock Screen

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